


share your life with me (for the next ten minutes)

by trashmouthuris



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: (aka stan and eddie are fine), First Kiss, Fluff, IT Chapter Two Spoilers, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, basically both chapters take place after their corresponding movies, no one who dies in derry ever really dies, richie experiences gay panic, we repressing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 17:37:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20604689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashmouthuris/pseuds/trashmouthuris
Summary: hammocks are not designed to support the weight of two grown men.





	1. the beginning

**Author's Note:**

> me, two years ago: hopefully there will be more reddie fics in the future  
also me: (doesn't write another reddie fic for two years)
> 
> also idk why both of my reddie fics involve the other losers betting on reddie? and in both of them its stan paying mike which i didn't plan at all?? my MIND
> 
> the title is from "the next ten minutes" from the last five years

while the losers usually opted to hang out at the clubhouse as a group, it wasn't unusual to find one of them there alone at times. for richie, it was usually when he needed to get away from his parents for a bit or after an interaction with bowers and his gang. or when he was feeling things he knew his friends wouldn't be able to relate to.

although they had beaten pennywise months ago, what it had said to richie still stuck with him. it somehow always managed to resurface every time he was alone in the clubhouse. the silence tortured him with a quiet echo of the clown threatening to reveal his secret to all his friends, to the whole world. why did he keep doing this to himself again?

it seemed he wouldn't be left alone with his thoughts for much longer; richie pretended not to notice as eddie's small frame lowered through the hatch of the clubhouse. when eddie spotted the taller boy stretched out in the hammock, he sighed, but it didn't contain his usual annoyance. he just sounded tired.

"can you scoot over? please?" his voice was small. richie was taken aback - he was expecting eddie to reprimand him for exceeding his allotted ten minutes in the hammock, or to shove him over to try and get a seat. it was almost enough for richie to not make it into a joke. almost.

"there's a seat right here, eddie spaghetti," he said, motioning to his lap. at eddie's lack of a response, richie accepted that the other boy wasn't in the mood and did his best to make room. it wasn't the most comfortable, with one of eddie's arms bent uncomfortably underneath his body. richie turned to look at him.

"everything alright?" he questioned. he wasn't used to this type of seriousness between them, though it wasn't unwelcome. eddie's face stayed towards the ceiling of the clubhouse, giving richie the chance to examine his faint freckles and the way his hair curled near his ears.

"i ran into bowers today," eddie shrugged. richie frowned.

"want me to beat him up for you?" he chuckled, only half joking. this made eddie smile too, much to richie's delight.

"oh, please. bowers would snap you like a twig and we both know it." richie turned back towards the ceiling.

"you're probably right," he admitted. what he didn't want to admit was that it would be worth it if it meant that he could protect eddie.

they laid like that for another few minutes in silence, listening to each other breathe. it wasn't long before eddie's position became unbearable, especially the way he was laying on an arm that had been broken before.

"is it alright if i-" he started, motioning to richie that he needed to readjust their position. richie just nodded, pushing himself up on his elbow to create more room. the sudden movement threw off the balance of the hammock, making it swing wildly and nearly deposit the two boys onto the dirt floor. eddie placed his arm on the opposite side of richie to try and steady himself.

richie was all but frozen in shock. he knew it wasn't intentional, that eddie had merely been trying not to fall, but he couldn't help but get that familiar rush of warmth to his face at the thought of how close eddie was to him.

he tried his hardest to not act on his impulse. he knew that if he did what he really wanted to do right now, eddie might never talk to him again. there was also the voice in the back of his head, a voice that sounded a little too much like that stupid fucking clown, whispering about his dirty little secret.

but what if it didn't have to be? what if eddie felt the same way? what if - he may be crazy, he might be hallucinating, but was eddie looking at richie the same way richie was looking at him?

at that moment, all of the negative thoughts in richie's head went blank. he was in a position he had dreamt of for so long, so he decided to say fuck it and follow his dreams.

it was a quick kiss. it had been building up inside richie for so long that he felt a sense of relief when he pulled away - he had finally done it, finally kissed his best friend whom he had been pining for for so long. that relief quickly died when he noticed the look on eddie's face, his widened eyes.

"shit, eddie, i'm sorry, i shouldn't have- i didn't-" richie stumbled over his words. he was so caught up in it that he didn't notice the growing smile on eddie's face. eddie shut him up with another kiss, this one slower but somehow messier. they were both much too eager for this and much too inexperienced at it. this time it was eddie who pulled away, leaning back to study richie's face. for the first time in his life, richie tozier was speechless.

"are you alright?" eddie asked.

"alright? you're killing me, eds." he bunched the soft fabric of eddie's polo in his hands, pulling him closer.

"don't fucking call me that," the smaller boy said, though he smiled and leaned in again.

richie didn't know how long they laid there, whether it was 2 minutes or 2 hours. either way, he couldn't be happier. that didn't mean he didn't have the mind to still make fun of eddie though.

"how are your scrawny little arms still holding you up?" he asked, poking the inside of eddie's elbow. eddie rolled his eyes and scoffed, about to respond when they heard the hatch being pulled open. there was a flurry of limbs and whispered profanities as they scrambled to untangle themselves and settle in a less conspicuous position. they didn't think to do much to fix their messy hair or flushed faces, raising suspicion from mike and bill, who had just finished climbing down into the clubhouse.

"what's up?" mike asked, his eyes flicking between the boys, their breathlessness and poorly hidden dopey grins not going unnoticed.

"oh, y'know, richie being an asshole, what's new?" eddie knocked richie's glasses off his face with his foot, earning a swat from the taller boy. mike shared a look with bill, a silent agreement to not question what the losers had known was going on for quite some time now. it was better than listening to them bicker all the time.


	2. the end

eddie sat alone in the clubhouse. he had recently been released from the hospital after the losers' confrontation with it; they hadn't been sure if he would make it out alive, but he was able to pull through. he even got a pretty cool scar out of it.

as he sat on the hammock, slightly swinging back and forth, some of the memories of the clubhouse started to come back to him. most of them involved richie being a little shit. some of the memories felt different, but they weren't all there - it was like he was trying to look through a window that was fogged up on the other side. he knew it was him and richie, but their usual animosity seemed to be missing. 

as he struggled to remember, the sound of the hatch opening caught his attention. none other than the trashmouth himself climbed down, as if he knew eddie had been thinking about him.

"hey," he said, the sight of eddie still bringing up the memory of what had happened in the cistern. he sat down next to him, the hammock groaning under the weight of two grown men. eddie simply nodded to acknowledge his presence.

"so, what happens now? you going back to your wife?" richie asked eddie, turning to look at him. eddie's eyes stayed fixed on the ground in front of him.

"honestly, rich, i don't think i can," eddie joked, but the weight of the situation seemed to hit him then. he knew that he couldn't. he just couldn't seen to figure out why. 

"why not?" richie seemed genuinely curious. he hoped that eddie didn't realize it was because he wanted eddie to come home with him instead. it took eddie a moment to formulate his response.

"i think i married my mother," he replied, horrified by the reality of his statement. he had convinced himself that his slip-up on the phone with myra before he came to derry was an accident, but he was starting to realize the striking similarities between the two. richie burst into laughter, only calming down momentarily to tease eddie.

"so it looks like i wasn't the only one fucking your mom, huh eds?" he nudged eddie's side. eddie shoved him in response, nearly pushing him off the hammock.

"that's disgusting!" eddie cried, only making richie laugh more. 

"hey, you're one to talk, oedipus!" even eddie couldn't help but laugh at that. 

as their laughter died down, richie turned to look at eddie again. he tried to memorize the lines of his face, tried to see if there was still a hint of those freckles. 

"i really thought i lost you, eds," he said, his voice much more somber than it had been minutes ago. eddie leaned his head against richie's shoulder with a sigh. 

"you didn't, though," he grabbed richie's hand. "and you're not going to. not again." 

richie felt his heart race as he looked at eddie. this time, eddie looked back at him, and richie knew that he meant what he said. before he let himself think about it too much, he leaned in to kiss him. 

eddie didn't pull away for a while, reciprocating the kiss instantly and letting his hand find the back of richie's neck. he felt richie leaning forward, pushing eddie down onto the hammock. richie found himself wondering why their position felt all too familiar. 

"wait, this isn't right," eddie said as he pulled away. richie's face fell. had he gone too far? or maybe misinterpreted the situation? before he could ask eddie what was wrong, he felt eddie shifting underneath him. before he knew it eddie had switched their positions so that he hovered over richie instead. 

"that's better," he gave richie a mischievous smile. richie shook his head in disbelief.

"god, i love you so much," he whispered, pulling eddie in again. they were so caught up in each other that they didn't hear the posts supporting the hammock start to complain again - they had barely been able to support the two boys as teenagers, much less now. it just so happened that the moment they hit the floor was the moment that stan dropped down into the clubhouse, followed by beverly and mike. the first thing richie and eddie heard was an exasperated sigh.

"are you kidding me?" stan asked, motioning to the way the two were tangled up in each other. "they broke the fucking hammock." beverly laughed.

"more like they were fucking and broke the hammock," she joked. mike said nothing, just held his hand out to stan, who pulled out his wallet and took out a ten dollar bill.

"wait, you guys were betting on us getting together?" richie asked, bewildered. beverly shook her head.

"we knew you were going to get together eventually, we were just betting on whether or not you were fucking in the hammock."

"we weren't even fucking!" eddie threw his hands in the air with indignation. 

"not yet," richie said, wagging his eyebrows at the man still sitting on top of him. eddie flicked him in the nose, but he didn't deny it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bottom richie is the hill i've chosen to die on i guess


End file.
